PSSA Time? Educational Game Time?

Take a walk outside and you will see spring flowers, birds singing, blue skies, and kids on their way to take Pennsylvania's PSSA Test. It's often during this time of year when everything else shuts down, schedules become modified, and teachers are scrambling on what to do.

I came across some educational game ideas that you may want to try out.

• Flash Hangman for ESL Students has many different categories of words for ESL and English speakers alike. This may be a great game for the class, to "guess" the word and then have a discussion or activity to define it. 
• Prongo is a good site for kids ages 6 to 12. It has a variety of games for learning science, math, and vocabulary. 
• The Problem Site contains games that require strategy and thinking for our students. This is a great way to develop our students' logical thinking during this "testing-overload" time period. I like the game called Entrapment, which involves strategically placing checkers in different spots. 
• Want to have your kids complete an interactive crossword puzzle on The 50 States? Infoplease.com has  a way for your students to learn about all 50 states in this interactive puzzle! 
• US Geography Games contains over 100 quizzes for students to learn more about US Presidents, States, and the United States.
• Who Wants a $1,000,000 for Science Trivia is a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" type of game with trivia about chemistry, biology, and physical science. 

Even if you don't use these games during this onslaught of testing, you can easily incorporate them as an activating strategy or end of the class activity. You don't need laptops for every student. The great thing about these games is the fact that all you need is a laptop and projector.